1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, which is capable of face detection autofocus for performing face detection and causing the detected face to be in focus, a control method thereof, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in a single lens reflex camera, a system which acquires an image signal through a photometry sensor of a penta unit prior to a photographing and processes the image signal to perform photometry and face detection has appeared. This system may perform face detection through the photometry sensor of the penta unit prior to a main photographing, perform autofocus (AF) by focusing a distance measurement point on a face-detected position in accordance with the information of the face detection, and perform a main photographing in a state in which the face is in focus. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-262001 discloses an image pickup apparatus which starts a face detection processing when a release button is half depressed in a face detection mode, and when a face is detected, determines a lens movement distance by roughly calculating distance to a person's face on the basis of a calculation result of a face area size.
However, as compared to a normal auto-selection one-shot AF, a face detection auto-selection one-shot AF which acquires an image signal through a photometry sensor of a penta unit, performs face detection, and performs AF at a face-detected position has a problem in that it takes a longer time due to a period of time during which the face detection is performed.